Archives for September 2017

Small businesses looking for financing have way more options today than they would have in the past. But all those extra choices can lead to confusion for small business owners.

If you’re trying to sort through the range of financing options available to small businesses, an upcoming webinar might be able to help. The webinar, Understanding Alternative Financing Options for Business Owners, is scheduled for October 5 and registration is currently open.

And that’s not all! Another webinar aimed at helping small businesses with budgeting is scheduled for the same day.

You can learn about both upcoming webinars and more by checking out the Featured Events section and list below.

To see a full list or to submit your own event, contest or award listing, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

Learn the techniques small businesses are using to gain control of their budgets. Hear from experts, including small business experts Anita Campbell, Ivana Taylor and Michael Cammon, Director, Digital Marketing & Development at Constellation, an energy supplier, for practical ideas to implement in minutes, including how to save money through light bulbs, how to win the thermostat wars in your office, how to switch energy providers to lower energy rates, recycling to save money (as well as helping the environment), how to get an energy audit done – and how it can help, smart building” apps for you and your team to manage costs, how landscaping, caulk and window coverings can save big and energy tax breaks available. REGISTER TODAY!

ONTRApaloozaOctober 04, 2017, Santa Barbara, Calif.

ONTRApalooza is a three-day conference for entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders packed to the brim with hands-on workshops, in-depth software sessions, and inspiring keynotes from leading experts. Join in on Oct. 4 – 6, 2017 to learn the strategies that are getting results now. Leave prepared to make a bigger impact.

Rule Breaker Awards Ceremony October 24, 2017, Scottsdale, Ariz.

On October 24, 2017 at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Rule Breaker Awards will honor and celebrate those entrepreneurs who have succeeded by doing it their way in a ceremony featuring the Rule Breaker of the Year and Rule Breaker Award winners.

NextConOctober 23, 2017, Scottsdale, Ariz.

At NextCon, you’ll gain:

– Proven techniques to garner higher customer satisfaction.– Insider strategies from leading experts to help you provide amazing customer service.– Methods of engaging your employees to better deliver on your customer experience.– Hands-on training with Nextiva’s technology and products so you can take advantage of tools you already have, or learn about new ones.

Sales World 2017November 08, 2017, Online

Sales World 2017 takes place November 8th to 9th, 2017, Online; Live and On Demand. It is the largest Sales Industry Event in the World and will be attended by over 10,000 Sales Professionals. It’s the one sales event you can’t afford to miss!

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If you are in the startup (or want to be) in the startup industry, do you know all of your funding options? Would you know what to do if a venture capitalist expresses interest? If you were unsure of any of those questions, you probably need “Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist”, this book provides an insider’s tour of the financial and legal maze in startup financing.

So, you’ve got your business plans, pitch deck, and awesome team ready to launch your startup. Think you’re ready to go? Your journey is just starting out, young grasshopper. Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is an in-depth guide through the legal and financial maze that most startup owners aren’t prepared to face. Written by two experts with more than 40 combined years in the venture capital industry, the book points out the key terms and conditions to look for while signing contracts and moving closer to their dream.

What is Venture Deals About?

Venture Deals is the third edition of a book that started out as a blog intended to bring more transparency to the venture capital (VC) industry. The VC industry has its own terminology, best practices, and strategies that many people, including promising startups who are approached by venture capitalists, do not realize. The book starts with the basics, explaining how a VC firm is structured and how it invests.

Venture Deals then delves into the core topic of the book, the term sheet. For those not familiar with the word, a “term sheet” is like a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory — from a startup’s point of view. It lays out the initial conditions for a venture capitalist or VC firm to invest in your startup dream. Getting this term sheet is a hard-fought battle, but it is the start of a longer war. That is the purpose of the latter part of the book, which focuses on the funding and negotiation concerns you may have down the road.

Beyond term sheets, Venture Deals exposes readers to the mind of a venture capitalist — or VC. The authors show what a venture capitalist looks for in a promising startup at each stage of funding. (Hint: it’s more than an awesome-looking pitch deck or Prezi presentation). Unlike the perception, startup financing is not like a fairytale where a “venture capitalist” waltzes in to save a promising startup. The promise is more nuanced, startup owners have more options, and conditions have more leeway than you might imagine. Venture Deals is a guide to understanding these nuances and options so you can achieve the most favorable arrangement to launch the start-up of your dreams.

Author Brad Feld is an experienced early-stage investor and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the industry. He co-founded Foundry Group with Jason Mendelson. Feld has also founded (or co-founded) several other businesses including Intensity Ventures, Feld Technologies and Mobius Venture Capital. Besides running businesses, he is also an avid marathon runner.

Co-author Jason Mendelson is a former startup lawyer, an adjunct law professor, and a co-founder of the Foundry Group. Mendelson previously served as managing director and Chief Administrator Office for Mobius Venture Capital. In addition, he is a hiker, musician and home remodeler.

What Was Best About Venture Deals?

Venture Deals deserves a lot of credit for attempting to break down the venture capital industry for the wide-eyed startup owner who still believes his or her startup is a billion-dollar unicorn in the making. While authors Feld and Mendelson don’t dash anyone’s dreams, they bring a much-needed practicality to the world of startups entrepreneurs will need to understand. The authors pull out key terms and concepts from the confusing legal and financial startup funding maze and take readers on a tour to show how the industry really works. In some cases, Venture Deals walks readers through every important paragraph of a document (like the term sheet).

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

Venture Deals, while extremely helpful and organized when focusing on the fundamentals, is not a book for everyone. Despite the authors’ attempts, it can be an intellectually daunting book if you don’t have some exposure to corporate finance. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is something readers may want to consider. If you know what terms like “convertible debt” and “vesting” mean, you should be fine.

Another issue is the balance of legal and financial information. The book is skewed more toward the financial side of things. More information on the legal issues in startup financing might be helpful.

Why Read Venture Deals?

As mentioned above, the venture capital industry is something most people know little about. Because of that lack of knowledge, people to believe in the hype. The authors take the time to gently bring entrepreneurs back to earth by explaining key issues a prospective startup company needs to understand. There aren’t too many books that do this kind of thing. Most startup books focus on the business strategy or marketing aspects of getting a new business off the ground. Venture Deals focuses on the less shiny, but all-important, legal and financing issues of building a startup.

Today, one of the best ways to engage customers is through video. Facebook videos can be a great, cost-effective way to do that. Creating a Facebook video campaign sounds daunting, but with a few easy tips and tricks, you’ll be able to engage current customers and attract news ones.

Related: How Your Company Can Use Facebook Groups for Marketing

Keep in mind that people won’t sit through long videos on Facebook. After two minutes, viewers’ engagement significantly drops. That’s why it’s important to keep it short and sweet. If you’re not sure how to keep it short, then break your video up into segments, creating a series of videos, and release them over time.

It’s also important to utilize what Facebook has to offer. Instead of using YouTube or another third party site, upload your videos directly to the social platform. On average, these videos receive twice as many views and three times as many shares compared to videos coming from other sites.

Related: 5 Things You Should Know About the New Age of Video Marketing

Not sure what should be in your video? People want to learn, so focus on making how-to videos and providing text explanations within the videos to really keep viewers’ attention.

From creating your video to marketing it, check out Business Backer’s guide to help you create successful video marketing campaigns on the platform.

When it comes to the software your small business relies on every day, do you prefer to just use an off-the-shelf option or something custom-built?

The decision is often based on the specific type of solution your company seeks. But like a lot of options facing small businesses, it usually comes down to cost.

Off-the-Shelf or Custom Built Software?

An infographic from IntelligentBee provides a little more insight on the subject and you can use this as a decision-making guide for your company.

Off-the-shelf Software

A lot of the online and automation solutions that a small business uses are of the off-the-shelf variety. That is, they’re ready-made, pay-and-go solutions. They often have affordable monthly subscription plans and, for the most part, provide an adequate solution for small businesses. And, in some instances, you can find a free software solution among these products that will suit your business just fine.

“Some organizations are perfectly content with off-the-shelf software or canned software solutions to improve their workflow,” says Costi Teleman, a tech team leader at IntelligentBee. Teleman discusses the options in a post on the official IntelligentBee blog. “There are software and tools in various categories from productivity, collaboration, messaging, office solutions, conferencing, marketing, sales, and many more,” he adds.

These versions of software solutions for small businesses do have their limitations. And if your company relies on a particular solution and the company that makes it is sold and it’s discontinued or altered in a way you don’t like, you could be forced to find another solution.

That can be a costly and time-consuming process for your small business.

Custom Software

So for those times when your company needs a software solution that can’t depend on the whims and business plans of someone outside your control, it’s time to build some custom software.

Custom software solutions can be altered based on your company’s exact needs. The only limits are usually the skills of the person you employ to build the software, the money you’re willing to invest right away to have it built, and your investment into its future (updates, troubleshooting, etc.). These are all features of off-the-shelf software that are generally baked in to the price.

“Custom software development may take months to develop, depending on your specific requirements,” Teleman writes on the IntelligentBee blog.

For a full rundown of the pros and cons of each software solution, check out the full infographic below.

As more and more retail brands and department store giants close shop and reduce locations this year, the rest of the retail industry is scrambling. They’ve got to find ways tp unlock the keys to survival and growth.

What is happening to the retail side of things?

Needless to say, retail isn’t what it used to be 50, 20, or even 10 years ago. Trends and shopping behaviors have changed dramatically. New technology has been introduced, and there are more competitors in the market than ever before. The playing field has been leveled.

Related: How Retailers Are Thriving Despite the Supposed Death of Their Industry

To compete and grow, retailers have to work harder than ever to reach, attract, and engage with shoppers online. But how do you do it? Having a website and an active presence on social media sites used to help, but it’s not enough anymore.

Today, it’s all about using content to build community, provide value, and establish trust with your customers and target audience.

Related: Five Tips for Building an Online Community for Your Business

Here are four examples of retail brands that are doing it right:

1. Beardbrand

Beardbrand is a beard lifestyle company that was founded in 2012 by Eric Bandholz. Bandholz started the company to create more community around beard-growing, and, according to the company mission statement, “To change the way society views beardsmen.”

Beardbrand sells a variety of beard-growing products and tools to beard enthusiasts all around the world. Bandholz and his team have successfully built an active and passionate community around their company and products by investing in content and education from day one.

Bandholz explains on his website: “We first started off with a blog, a YouTube channel, and a Tumblr blog. On these platforms, I shared my knowledge about growing a beard and provided style inspiration for others. Ultimately, the goal was to provide the tools necessary for men to feel confident about growing their beard, and I also wanted to end the negative stereotypes about beardsmen being lazy or unkempt.”

Related: Five Lessons You Can Learn From the Viral Success of Dollar Beard Club

Today, Beardbrand works with brand advocates and bearded influencers all around the world to create content that serves and educates thousands of followers, builds brand awareness, and promotes their growing line of beard grooming products.

There’s no doubt about what they’re focused on with their content strategy.

2. lululemon

lululemon athletica is a yoga-inspired, technical athletic apparel company for women and men that was founded in 1998 by Chip Wilson. The company is now run by current CEO Laurent Potdevin.

lululemon is another company built with a focus on education and community, as illustrated on their website:

“Our vision for our store was to create more than a place where people could get gear to sweat in; we wanted to create a community hub where people could learn and discuss the physical aspects of healthy living, mindfulness and living a life of possibility. It was also important for us to create real relationships with our guests and understand what they were passionate about, how they liked to sweat and help them celebrate their goals.”

In the past few years, the athleisure trend has exploded, and lululemon has responded by doubling down on both product design and education for their community of followers.

The retail brand has over two million followers on Instagram, over 18 million video views on YouTube, and regularly publishes original content that educates their community on topics that relate to yoga, travel, nutrition, and their products.

Contrast this with the screenshot of Beardbrand above. Can you see a difference in their targeting.

3. YETI

YETI is an outdoor lifestyle brand that was founded in 2006 by Ryan and Roy Seiders. The company designs and manufactures high-quality coolers, ramblers, travel bags, and other accessories for outdoor enthusiasts.

To differentiate from a fairly saturated and competitive market, YETI invests in experience-based storytelling. They describe their products in the following way:

“Built for close calls in far-flung places. Built for tall tales and epic adventures. Built for finding comfort well outside comfort zones. Built for the wild.”

Related: How Targeted Marketing Can Improve Your Brand’s Efficiency

To connect with and relate to their target audience, YETI has been, in recent years, producing extremely well-produced stories that feature interesting people living interesting or extraordinary lives. These stories are usually comprised of rich editorial write-ups, video footage, and photos.

This type of storytelling ultimately helps YETI not only attract those seeking adventure and spending time outdoors, but also focus in on connecting with those willing to spend top-dollar (their smallest cooler currently sells for $199) for products that last a lifetime.

In all of these examples, it’s about the experience — not the products.

4. Bonobos

Bonobos is a men’s clothing brand founded in 2007 by Andy Dunn and Brian Spaly. The company was recently acquired by Walmart for $310 million.

In an effort to connect with their audience and differentiate from other men’s clothing brands online, Bonobos manages a digital editorial publication on their website called Equateur. They describe the publication in the following way:

“At Bonobos, we strive to make great clothing. With Equateur, we tell the stories of the humans who wear it. The places they go, the things they do, the people they meet — everything that gives meaning to what otherwise would be just fabric and thread.”

Related: Six Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience

The original content created for Equateur allows Bonobos to educate their target audience while also promoting their own products. You can see this strategy in action by visiting the Groomshop section of their website, where you’ll find a natural mix of helpful wedding and honeymoon tips, clothing for sale, and information about their consultation services.

There aren’t even pictures of the product. Just helpful tips for their ideal customer.

Wrapping Up

The retail game is changing in a big way. To survive the unsteadiness that a lot of brands are feeling right now, they have to focus less on “selling products” and more on investing in your community.

Think about who your customers are, what they care about, and what you need to do to create a movement and community that they can actively support and participate in.

Focus on creating original, unique content that provides value for your community, and actively work to position yourself and your brand as a resource that your customers and target audience can trust.

What other retail brands do you follow that are using content to stand out?

Full access to the PandaDoc dashboard is now available on your mobile device, whether you use Android or iOS. As a small business owner, this means you can sign legally binding documents securely no matter where you are with the new enhanced mobile app.

The availability of the entire dashboard via the mobile PandaDoc app will give you the same level of control for your documents inside and outside of the office. This includes the advanced analytics PandaDoc provides to keep track of your documents.

What Does the New PandaDoc App Mean for Your Small Business?

It means not wasting your valuable time tracking down documents. PandaDoc organizes your proposals and quotes, for example. Additionally, you can manage the entire life cycle of a contract so you don’t miss any deadlines.

Check out this short video to see what PandaDoc does for small businesses.

You can see how your customers are interacting with the document and help with any difficulty they might be having. And when they are ready to sign on the dotted line, you can finalize the deal right from your mobile device.

PandaDoc has more than 7,000 customers worldwide, many of whom are small businesses. They use it to generate, track, and execute documents as well as automate hiring and onboarding of new talent. PandaDoc automates the processing of documents.

PandaDoc CEO, Mikita Mikado, emphasizes this point in a release by the company saying, “For many of our customers, time is money. By enhancing our mobile app, we have done everything in our power to give our customers as little downtime as possible. By adding the PandaDoc full dashboard to our mobile app, we are giving our customers a superior experience by enabling them to transact business from anywhere at any time.”

Getting the App

All PandaDoc users can get the new enhanced mobile app for free on their Android and iOS devices. Once it is on your device, you can start managing and tracking your documents, with the same dashboard features available on desktop.

If you already use PandaDoc, it means not having to run back to the office to sign your documents. The same level of security with signature certificate, timestamp, IP address and unique barcode identifier is available. It will be a legally binding document.

“It’s staying,” Twitter chief Jack Dorsey said last year of the platform’s 140-character limit. Well, it appears the company has had a change of heart, as it’s now testing a 280-character limit.

The expanded tweet format is “only available to a small group right now,” according to product manager Aliza Rosen. “What matters most is that this works for our community — we will be collecting data and gathering feedback along the way.”

Why the change? Rosen pointed to languages that allow people to express themselves in fewer characters. With “languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese you can convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages, like English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French,” Rosen wrote in a blog post.

As a result, English speakers like Rosen find themselves removing words or not sending a tweet at all. “Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people Tweeting in English, but it is not for those Tweeting in Japanese,” she wrote.

Japanese Tweets are typically 15 characters vs. English tweets, which have 34. “In all markets, when people don’t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people Tweeting,” she said.

For a company that has struggled with growth, developing a more engaged community is a must. At the end of the last quarter, it had 328 million monthly active users (68 million in the US), the same as the previous quarter. Compare that to 2.01 billion monthly active Facebook users as of June 30.

Rosen acknowledged that people might have an “emotional attachment” to 140 characters. “We felt it, too,” she wrote. “But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint.”

Twitter has made a few small changes to the character limit over the years. Last year, it announced that photos, videos, GIFs, polls and Quote Tweets would not count toward a user’s 140-character limit. Earlier this month, there were reports that Twitter was testing a “tweetstorm” function; where one user sends out multiple tweets in quick succession to get across their message, hopefully in a thread. The reported tweetstorm function would take a block of text and automatically split them into separate tweets.

How to Choose an Inventory Management System

Use these criteria to choose the right inventory management software for your business:

Software Compatibilities

Most inventory management platforms integrate into other software systems, such as your accounting platform or vendors’ tracking systems. Depending on what systems you’re already using, you may want to choose one that’s already compatible.

Learning Curve

How much time and effort does it take to learn how to use the platform? How different is it from what you’re currently using? Obviously, any platform will require a bit of training, but you’ll want to minimize that impact as much as possible by choosing a platform that’s relatively approachable.

Functionality

Different inventory management platforms offer different levels of functionality. Some will only track your inventory when it’s in your warehouse. Some will track it from beginning to end, including your supply from vendors. Others will integrate their functionality into a full-scale enterprise resource management system, which can help you examine other factors like employee productivity and profitability.

Updates

How often is the platform updated with new features and bug fixes? A platform that’s updated regularly is a sign that the company is committed to offering you the best and most secure product. Be wary of any product that remains stagnant for several months at a time.

Customer Service

Next, you’ll want to look at the customer service that’s available. No software system is perfect, so when you encounter a difficult question or a software malfunction, you’ll want to know that you have a reliable team of customer service reps ready to address your most pressing concerns. If you can, talk to some account managers and customer service reps at an inventory management software company before pulling the trigger. If not, be sure to at least consult the user reviews.

Community

Is there a dedicated community surrounding the platform? If so, you’ll have a first line of support if anything goes wrong. It’s also an indication of the brand’s power and a sign that the product has some longevity. If a platform doesn’t have a thriving community of users, that’s not necessarily a bad sign, but having one can be a bonus.

Other Equipment

What other equipment does this tracking system require you to purchase and manage? Many modern systems rely on electronic identification chips for scanning and tracking, at a minimum. You’ll want to be wary of any system that has too many moving pieces.

The Overall Cost

Finally, you’ll want to consider the overall cost of the system. Inventory management platforms can save you money in the long run, so they’re worth a significant investment. However, you don’t want to overpay for features you aren’t going to use.

Why It Matters

It may seem like all platforms are the same, or that your decision will only have a marginal effect on your business. The truth is, though, your choice in inventory management software could have a substantial effect on your operations, partner relationships, and even your profitability. One miscommunication is all it takes to compromise a relationship, and since your employees will be using this software every day for the foreseeable future, even a few minutes of time saved can add up to hundreds of man-hours over the long term.

Take your time when making your decision, experimenting with many different platforms and looking at it from every angle. Only make the final decision when you’re sure it’s right.

Is the act of collaborating with someone outside of your small business unnecessarily complicated? After conquering teamwork within an organization, Slack just introduced Shared Channels so you can seamlessly do the same with people and organizations outside of your company.

Put simply, Shared Channels creates a common space and connects two different organizations so they can work together. In this space, you can use Slack’s communication features and platform integrations to collaborate with another small business no matter where it is located.

For small businesses already using Slack or looking to use it, it means more ways to bring your peers together. You can use audio, video, file sharing, direct messaging and much more under one platform. This translates to a more efficient and cost effective way to work with other teams without having to worry about compatibility issues.

In addressing the importance of the new service, April Underwood, vice president of product at Slack, told Casey Newton of The Verge, “We think of Shared Channels as the most important thing we’ve launched since Slack itself. They’re fundamentally a new way of working.”

How Does Shared Channels Work?

Creating the channel and inviting guests requires admins from both sides. Once a team accepts an invitation, the shared channel is created and they can collaborate with an unlimited number of public and private interactions.

The channel allows members from two parties to use all of the above mentioned features in a single space. Anyone part of the channel will not have to repeat any information when working on projects that involve external partners, log into multiple Slack workspaces, and switch between email and Slack.

If your small business and the other company use different apps, such as Dropbox and Zoom, it will be in the same shared channel. Existing workflows can be streamlined or new processes can be created to work more efficiently together.

How Can You Get It?

Shared Channels is only available through an open beta program for teams on Slack’s Standard and Plus plans. The Standard plan will cost you $6.67 per active user, per month when billed annually, and the Plus plan runs at $12.50 per active user.

If you don’t know what Slack is, this video does a good job of explaining it.

When the beta trial period is over in the coming months, Shared Channels will roll out as a standard feature, the company says.